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Guestbooks and You

SquidooKimberly by SquidooKimberly
Last updated: 02/06/2012

How to manage your guestbook settings.

Guestbooks are great tools for your lens. They let you get great feedback from readers, ask questions, run conversations, ask for help, collect links, and any other fun thing you'd like them to do.

If you're looking for some help managing the settings on your guestbooks and approving comments, you're in the right place!

[Mailbox image used under Creative Commons from mrjoro.]

Recent Guestbook Upgrades

Wowzahs! We've upgraded guestbooks with some awesome new features.

Previously, users could reply to a specific person, but their answer could be anywhere on the list. Now we've added threading to make specific conversations easier to identify. Plus, readers who aren't Squidoo members can log in with their Twitter or Facebook details to ensure non-anonymous participation.

Excited puppy courtesy of edanley and a Creative Commons license.

Here's a short list of what you're now getting:
  • An option for Squidoo lensmaster-only commenting (with inline login). Not new, but improved.
  • Commenting login via Twitter and FacebookConnect. Even if your readers aren't logged in Squidoo lensmasters, they can still comment easily in your Guestbook module, with credibility and non-anonymity, via Twitter and Facebook connect.
  • Threaded comments and improved design.
  • An option for readers to follow new Guestbook comments by email. Have you ever commented on a really great lens, or in an especially heated or interesting Guestbook, and wished you could easily know when someone replied there? Now you can, if you choose to follow a Guestbook by email. You can easily unsubscribe from the module when you've had enough. (NB: The person who owns the Guestbook and the lens can choose to approve comments first, so no bad comments get emailed to those following).
  • An option for a reader to Tweet, Facebook or email his comment. This means if you get people talking on your lens, and if they in turn share their comments outward, you get new, relevant people visiting your lens and joining the conversation.
  • Quicker moderation with no need to edit in order to delete!

First, set up a guestbook module

Of course, in order to have guestbook comments you'll have to set up a guestbook. You'll find the guestbook module in the first tab of the Module Picker. It's a handy way to collect comments about your lens, or get questions answered about specific topics.

Here are the default settings in a guestbook module

The default guestbook module settings

Then, decide which options you want

There are six main sections on the guestbook where you can decide how you want comments to be processed.
  • Who do you want commenting?
    You can choose to let anyone (yup, ANYone) comment on your lens, or restrict it only to Squidoo members who are logged in. (If you let anyone comment, you can't ban blurbers who aren't logged in.)
  • When should their blurbs be approved?
    If you select "right away," the blurbs will show up on lenses (almost) immediately after they are posted. If you select "ask me first" you'll need to approve each comment manually, either from the lens or the My Comments tab in your dashboard.
    In this section you can also choose to allow Facebook and Twitter to be integrated into your guestbook, so readers can help promote your lens.
  • Send you an approval email for pending blurbs?
    If you select "yup," you'll receive an email each time a blurb is posted to one of your guestbooks. If you select "nope," you'll need to log in to check for blurbs.
  • Comment following
    Choose whether or not logged in posters can subscribe to follow comments to their comments.
  • How many blurbs per page?
    This just lets you set the number of blurbs that will show at one time. The most recent blurbs will display, but never fear! Older ones can still be accessed and read.
  • Strip all HTML out of blurbs?
    If you're worried about spammers, setting this to "yup" is one way to make sure links don't fill up your guestbook.

So let's say someone leaves you a comment....

If you have it set to approve "right away," it will instantly appear on your guestbook like this.

On this post you'll see an "owner" badge. This lets you know the lensmaster of that lens has posted a comment.

When you're logged into Squidoo and visiting your own lenses, you'll also see a "delete" link that allows you to remove comments without going into your workshop. How cool is that!

If you do NOT have the comments set to automatically approve, they'll be pending, and you can process them through the My Comments tab on your dashboard or in the lens itself.

Here's what an email notification looks like.

If you want us to send an email letting you know you have a new comment, it will look something like this.

Please note that there is sometimes a time delay between when an email goes out and when a comment is available on Squidoo. If you can't find a new comment, try waiting 15-20 minutes.

Process a PENDING blurb from your DASHBOARD

You can process a blurb from your dashboard by logging into your account, and clicking on the My Comments tab on your dashboard.

You'll see something like this, and from here you can approve or decline the comment, and see which lens it was blurbed on.

Process a PENDING blurb in your WORKSHOP

If a blurb is not yet showing on your lens, you can choose to process it by editing the guestbook module.

Here's an example of a pending comment. From here you can click to approve it, reject it (delete it), or ban the logged in lensmaster from posting in your guestbooks.

Process a CURRENT blurb in your WORKSHOP

You can process a blurb on your lens by clicking on the link to your workshop (if you have it set up to send you email notifications), or by going directly to the workshop (edit page) of your lens.

When you VIEW the guestbook module in your workshop, you'll see this image. That's right, you don't have to edit the module to delete current blurbs!

Process a CURRENT blurb on your published LENS

There's now no need to access your workshop to delete a rogue comment! If you're logged in and visiting your own lens, simply click "delete" to moderate spam and off-topic rants.

Someone post duplicate blurbs?

Not a big deal. Just approve one and delete the other.

Approve or reject in one fell swoop!

If you have a busy guestbook, you can approve and reject multiple comments at once by checking each comment and choosing the appropriate bulk action.

What happens when you ban a lensmaster?

You can only ban a lensmaster from posting in your guestbooks if they are logged in. Banning a lensmaster keeps them from ever posting in your guestbooks again, so be sure! If the same lensmaster is banned too many times, he or she will be banned from posting in ANY guestbook on Squidoo.

Is spam a concern?

Spam is a big concern for some lensmasters with popular and specific topics. This grid shows how you can make the most of your moderation power.

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SquidooKimberly

I'm Kimberly, your Community Organizer on Squidoo. These official lenses will help you be more successful on your favorite internet service - Squidoo!... more »

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